Financial components are used to schedule payments and bills. These financial components define the amount, delivery method, frequency, and period for which a payment or bill is issued to a nominee. Each financial component is used to deliver eligible case components to case nominees. When a product delivery case is activated, these financial components are created.
Financial components are delivered to nominees according to the nominee's delivery pattern. Delivery patterns are used to create financial schedules for each case component delivered. The delivery pattern includes the method and frequency with which the benefit should be delivered to a nominee. For example, a nominee's delivery pattern might indicate that all benefits should be delivered to the nominee by check at the start of every month.
For example, a nominee receives a max personal case component with a weekly rate of $70. According to the nominee's delivery pattern, the nominee receives payments in check form at the start of every month. Based on this delivery pattern and the case component, a financial component is created for the max personal case component. This financial component will be issued by check to the nominee at the start of every month in the amount of $280 (at a rate of $70 per week for the month).
Delivery pattern information is set up for each case nominee. A new delivery pattern can be specified for a nominee as part of nominee component assignment or the default delivery pattern specified for the case is used. Changing delivery patterns for a nominee enables agencies to pay different case components to the same person at varying frequencies. Alternatively, a case worker can create a new nominee and assign one or more case components to the nominee or set a nominee to be the default nominee on the case to change the component assignment to suit the client's needs. A nominee can also have multiple active delivery patterns for the same period of time.
Depending on how the product delivery case is configured at administration, each financial component may potentially pay indefinitely until such time as circumstances change on the case, or the end date is explicitly set on the case. If the decision on an open ended case is eligible, an open ended financial component is automatically created. Financial components that are set up to pay indefinitely on a case are called open-ended financial components. This open-endedness is reflected in the decisions on the case and potentially on the resulting financial components. For information on configuring a case to be open ended, see Configuring Eligibility Determination Processing.